An incredible incident happened the other day during a military exercise on south of Peru. 31-year-old skydiver Amasifuen Gamarra (Amasifuen Gamarra) survived by falling from a height of 1,500 meters, AFP reports.
In the air, when the sergeant tried to open the parachute, the dome did not opened, and the slings wrapped around his neck. Paratrooper lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
At the same time, the Peruvian Air Force officer not only survived, but practically did not suffer. Doctors diagnosed him only sprained ankle. “We don’t know how the fall occurred, but he does not have a single fracture. It is a real miracle that he is alive. On this there was God’s will, “said emergency doctor Guillermo Pacheco.
The sergeant is currently in a military hospital, where undergoes additional examination.
A photo from open sources
A photo from open sources
The lucky ones
January 26, 1972 all the news agencies of the world reported explosion over the Czech city of Srpska-Kamenice at an altitude of 10160 meters Yugoslav passenger plane DC-9, flying from Copenhagen to Zagreb.
The cause of the tragedy was a bomb hidden on board an airplane Croatian terrorists – Ustashi. Chances to survive in such disasters are very, very few, and usually reports of them end with the same phrase: “All aboard perished. “But the world spread around the sensation – 22-year-old stewardess Spring Vulovich remained alive, falling from a great height. Relatively The “soft” landing was ensured by the snowy tree crowns, self-absorbing impact of the debris of the fuselage. True, the girl came only a month later.
A photo from open sources
Spring was lucky not only in that the plane fell on snowy trees, but also that the first at the scene of the accident was one of locals who worked in German during World War II field hospital and who knew the basics of first aid. He is found barely breathing Vulovic among the dead bodies of passengers, and gave her first aid. This probably saved her life. But the doctors for a long time they did not believe that she would survive. Even when Spring came in myself, there were doubts about that. But days passed, and the young organism confidently and confidently dealt with injuries.
In total, there are such people all over the world. several dozen, not counting those who survived the disasters during takeoff and landing of aircraft. Here is a short list of the most famous facts, most of which fall on the period of the 2nd world war.
In 1942, a Soviet bomber was shot down in an air battle IL-4. Navigator of the crew Ivan Chisov left the plane at an altitude of more than 7 thousand meters. The parachute opened as it should be, but found himself on the path of a burning car. Next Chisov fell without a parachute. He was saved by his thick snow cover and the slope of a deep ravine, where lucky and slipped at a sharp enough angle.
In May 1943, a British was shot down over Holland. Ventura bomber. The plane fell apart, and his the wreckage rushed down. The tail of the car where the shooter was William Stannard, was slightly damaged, very successfully hit the air flow and made an almost “soft landing”. The pilot got off only bruises.
In November of that year, during a raid on Bremen by German fire anti-aircraft artillery was shot down by an American b-17 bomber. The parachute of one of the crew members – Eugene Moran – was damaged and he could not use it, so he fell down with the machine. The trees softened the blow. Moran was captured, four months lain in German hospitals, but survived.
In March 1944, a plane was shot down during a raid on Germany Englishman Nicholas Elkimade. The pilot wanted to escape by parachute, but he did not open. Hit the ground after falling from a height of more than 5 kilometers was softened by spruce and snowdrift with a thickness of about half a meter. Surprisingly, there was no single fracture, although the free fall rate was not less than 150 kilometers per hour. In the military press, where this incident was widely described, Elkimade otherwise, they were not called a “surviving candidate for the dead.”
In April 1944, during another raid, a fighter German Luftwaffe destroyed the American B-24 bomber. Three the pilots on board were unable to take advantage parachutes and along with the wreckage of the car fell from a height of more than 5 kilometers. Two pilots died, but Merle Hassenfratz survived, escaping with broken legs and a broken eye.
In the same April, an American was shot down over Austria. B-24 bomber. A damaged plane went into a tailspin that didn’t allowed two pilots – Gerald Duval and John Wells – to leave dying machine. Bomber crashed to the ground from a height of more than 7 kilometers and completely collapsed. However, both pilots remained alive, although seriously injured.
Not so successfully completed a fall from a height of more than 8 kilometers for the pilot of the American bomber V-17 Federico Gonzales, shot down in January 1945 over Dusseldorf. Having received injured, he could not leave the burning car and with it fell on the ground. Gonzales survived, but died a few days later the hospital.
In February 1945, two American collided over Austria B-17 bomber. The shooter of one of the cars Erwin Kosiesarek turned out to be blocked in the tail, could not leave the plane and crashed with it from a height of more than 8 kilometers. More all were struck by German soldiers when Kosienzarek got out from the wreckage safe and sound. Naturally, he was right there captive.
Two more American B-17 bombers collided in the same month over Belgium. One of the pilots Joe Jones crashed to the ground with heights of about 4 kilometers. He was seriously injured, got into field hospital, where he came to himself in a few days. But survived.
And the last episode of the war. Another American B-17 bomber was shot down in the spring of 1945 during a raid on Koblenz. Shooter Edmund Shibble was unable to leave the car and fell on land from a height of about 7 kilometers. Accident ended for him spinal fracture. But he remained alive, although chained to the bed.
The next event occurred many years after fights on the battlefields ceased. December 23, 1971 in Peru a passenger airliner crashed. About half an hour after Departure from Lima, the plane landed in a thunderstorm. Lightning strike the liner caught fire and after a moment shattered into pieces. 17 year old Julian Kepke’s passenger fainted, and when she woke up, found herself fastened to a chair and hanging on a tree. how it later turned out she was the only survivor of the tragedy. But the path to her salvation lay through the selva along which she wandered 11 days until I met the Indians who brought her to the hospital. These events took place just a month before the miraculous rescue of Spring Vulovich.
And another disaster that occurred in South America, in Chilean The Andes ended with a miraculous escape for some passengers. thirteen October 1972, after the fall of a passenger airliner, 29 out of 45 people on board survived. In search of the human housing they had to make their way through the selva, engage cannibalism. Only 72 days after the accident, 16 people were saved.
In August 1981, a clash occurred in the Far East An-24 passenger aircraft and Tu-16 bomber. Most of both vehicles on board were killed. Only one survived – Larisa Savitskaya, returning that ill-fated day with my husband from a honeymoon. She was found three days later in Deaf taiga with serious injuries. It has been treated for a long time, but to this day she is haunted by pain. And not so much physical as moral.
Survived a fall from a height of almost 9 kilometers and worldwide famous British balloonist Steve Fossett. Balloon, on which the traveler flew over the Coral Sea, unexpectedly lost tightness, was blown away and began to fall down. Speed s which he hit the water surface, exceeded 70 kilometers per hour. But Fossett escaped with only a slight startle. Some time later he became the first person who single-handedly traveled around the world balloon ride.
October 31, 2002 survived after falling from a height of 1000 meters fellow countryman Vulovich, 40-year-old Dragan Kurchich. He got off light cut wounds, bruises and a couple of bruises. It was an ordinary jump for Kurchich. However, the main parachute did not open. Attempt open the spare also failed. Parachutes opened simultaneously a little later, their slings got messed up.
The paratrooper was saved by the fact that he fell on the roof of one of the buildings and broke it. The roof softened the fall. The incident did not scared Kurchich, and only an hour after the fall he again rose into the sky and left the car. This time everything went well.
War Time Peru Airplanes
